World’s Most Expensive Cities in 2013 Named

Neon lights and signs are seen at night on a street in Tokyo. REUTERS/Kiyoshi Ota

World’s Most Expensive Cities in 2013 Named

Tokyo’s high-end fashion boutiques and lavish restaurants have helped it be named the most expensive city in the world, closely followed by nearby Osaka, and then Sydney and Melbourne.

World’s Most Expensive Cities in 2013 Named

The two Japanese cities have the fall of two Swiss cities to thank in part, with Zurich and Geneva each seeing dramatic declines in the cost of living over the past 12 months.

“Since 1992 Tokyo has been the ranking city in every year bar six. Only Zurich, Paris and Oslo were dubbed the world’s most expensive city during this time,” the Economist Intelligence Unit’s website reported.

Meanwhile, the thriving Aussie dollar helped Sydney and Melbourne jump to spot numbers three and four, up four places since last year’s list.

Interestingly, 11 of the top 20 most expensive cities to live in were located in Asia,

while no single US city made the top 20 list – not even the once infamously pricey New York City.

On the other end of the spectrum, South East Asian cities includeing Mumbai, India and Karachi, Pakistan were among the world’s cheapest cities to reside in.

“The Worldwide Cost of Living survey is released twice a year by the EIU and compares hundreds of prices across 160 products and services, including items such as food, drink, rentals, utility bills, schooling costs and household supplies,” reported CNN.

See the top 10 most expensive and inexpensive cities to live in below.